Smuggling operation foiled on Jordanian border

A massive arms smuggling operation was thwarted in a  joint operation between Southern District police officers and IDF units from the 80th Division. 

It was the largest thwarting of a smuggling operation on the Jordanian border, with 137 weapons and 250 ammunition cartridges seized. 

"We operate on all fronts and arenas, we do not stop fighting for a moment, and not in the face of Hamel smuggling; It's an integral part of our fighting," southern district police commander Superintendent Amir Cohen said.

The smuggling operation was stopped about a week ago on the Jordanian border, near Moshav Zoper in the Arava. 

"Police officers of the Negev region's defense unit along with intelligence units of the southern district followed a squad known to them as an arms smuggling squad.”

Arrests made after chase

“This is a squad that we were informed about a few months ago," said Deputy Superintendent Ronen Kalphon, commander of the defense unit. 

"We started following their movements and recognized that they were doing field work in preparation for a large smuggling operation," he said. "On Thursday last week, we spotted them at night and we stopped them in the act. All along the way we maintained close cooperation with the IDF.”

The smugglers tried to escape from security forces but were arrested after a chase. As part of countermeasures, police officers of the Negev region's defense unit and the southern district's intelligence units arrested four suspects from the Bedouin diaspora. 

In the southern district they also arrested the head of the smuggling network who managed the operation. 

The police suspect that the weapons were intended for criminal and terrorist organizations.